14 Croatian Smart Benches Placed in Kazakhstan Capital

The Croatian company behind the ‘world’s best smart street bench’ has installed its first smart bench in the capital of Kazakhstan.

Recently four Steora smart benches were placed in Astana, Kazakhstan, with another 10 benches placed this week. With 14 smart benches, the Kazakhstan capital is the city with the second most Croatian smart benches in the world.

The first 4 benches in Astana, Kazakhstan (photo: Include)

Only the Croatian capital Zagreb has more.

Include, founded by young 21-year-old smart bench inventor Ivan Mrvoš, also have some of their Steora benches in Australia, Germany, Slovakia, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, USA, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

The Steora bench hides a wireless charger for advanced mobile devices – integrated with an acrylic glass cover – while it also offers two regular USB ports, together with a Wi-Fi access point. Users can charge their phones and connect to the Internet.

The Steora benches in Mandurah, Western Australia (photo: Include)

The benches, which provides LED night light, can be installed anywhere as long as it exposed to some natural light. Over the day all energy goes into a strong battery system which ensures that the bench can work normally even if there is no sun for few days.

Mrvoš has been hugely successful since he developed and installed the first smart bench in his hometown of Solin in 2015. In the same year, Ivan and his friend sold and produced 25 benches for 3 countries and made a total revenue of €40.000.

Steora smart bench (image: Include)

At the beginning of 2016 things became more serious. There were more and more inquiries for benches and also first competitors started to show up with their prototypes, so Ivan decided to take his business serious – the smart bench from Solin had to become a serious product and Include a serious company.